Auto Suggestions are available once you type at least 3 letters. Use up arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+up arrow) and down arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+down arrow) to review and enter to select.

Temporarily Out of Stock Online

Overview

Some of the most important verbal messages we craft are also the shortest: headlines, titles, sound bites, brand names, domain names, slogans, taglines, company mantras, email signatures, bullet points. These miniature messages depend not on the elements of style but rather on the atoms of style. They require microstyle. Branding consultant Christopher Johnson here reveals the once-secret knowledge of poets, copywriters, brand namers, political speechwriters, and other professional verbal miniaturists. Each chapter discusses one tool that helps miniature messages grab attention, communicate instantly, stick in the mind, and roll off the tongue. As he highlights examples of those tools used well, Johnson also examines messages that miss the mark, either by failing to use a tool or by using it badly. Microstyle shows readers how to say the most with the least, while offering a lively romp through the historic transformation of mass media into the media of the personal.

ADVERTISEMENT

Product Details

About the Author

Christopher Johnson, an independent verbal branding consultant, received his PhD in linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and has worked at Lexicon, one of the country's top naming firms. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Editorial Reviews

Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little, is a work of pop linguistics… it synthesizes a wide range of current thinking from recent books about grammar, branding, cognitive science and Web theory. But it does so with intelligence and friendly wit. Mr. Johnson’s point is that words are for wooing, in ways both personal and professional, and his own prose is sociable enough to underscore that point and spritz it with a bit of sophisticated perfume. His book is here, like a dating guide, to whisper: You too can woo. Dwight Garner

Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little, is a work of pop linguistics… it synthesizes a wide range of current thinking from recent books about grammar, branding, cognitive science and Web theory. But it does so with intelligence and friendly wit. Mr. Johnson’s point is that words are for wooing, in ways both personal and professional, and his own prose is sociable enough to underscore that point and spritz it with a bit of sophisticated perfume. His book is here, like a dating guide, to whisper: You too can woo.”

Dwight Garner - New York Times

Are you microstylish? In the 140-character universe we now inhabit, you better be.

Seth Godin

What do Oscar Wilde, Steve Jobs, and Jello Biafra have in common? Each has mastered microstyle. With this riotous and readable book, Christopher Johnson helps you join the club. In no time you’ll be coining witty epigrams, imagining unforgettable brands, or crafting a distinctive identity.

Constance Hale

Think big. Write small. Read Microstyle.”

George Lakoff

Useful and entertaining.

Mignon Fogarty

For a book on writing short, this is surprisingly long. Business and recreational readers seeking the "Top Ten Ways To Tweet Better" will get impatient with the in-depth analysis of iambs and trochees, though independent verbal branding consultant Johnson does explain why The Bundt Stops Here is an awkward name for a cake shop and why people prefer ordering Coke to Coca-Cola. This "field guide to everyday verbal ingenuity," in Johnson's words, contains many nuggets of good information—that is, for readers with the linguistic interest and background to sort through them. VERDICT With many lively statements and humorous examples mixed in among discussions of metonymy and syntactic iconicity, this book would work well in academic settings. Motivated readers looking for information on naming a product or business or creating a slogan will find good information here. Those seeking simple rules for "writing little" will be weighed down.—Maggie Knapp Trinity Valley Sch. Lib., Fort Worth, TX

Library Journal

Christopher Johnson's lively…work of pop linguistics…synthesizes a wide range of current thinking from recent books about grammar, branding, cognitive science and Web theory…with intelligence and friendly wit.The New York Times

Dwight Garner

Chock full of examples and well-written insights, Microstyle comes from a linguist who is interested in the art and the science of modern language.The Washington Post

“This is criticism at its best.”Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles TimesWriting in the tradition of Susan
Sontag and Elaine Scarry, Maggie Nelson has emerged as one of our foremost cultural critics with this landmark work about representations of cruelty and violence ...

Launched in 2004, the Art/Shop/Eat pocket guides combine a great contemporary look with the thoroughness
of research expected from a Blue Guide publication, making them the perfect choice for the weekend or short-break tourist or business visitor.Selective high-quality coverage of ...

Bring the magic of storytelling into your child's life using the everyday world around you.Lavishly
endowed with over 100 original, hands-on activities for children aged three to ten, this book teaches parents to incorporate storytelling into household activities and to ...

Comics and Sequential Art is a masterwork, the distillation of Will Eisner's genius to a
clear and potent elixir.Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.Will Eisner is one of the twentieth century's great American ...

The first easy-to-navigate illustrated guidebook to the wonderful sculptures, murals, bas-reliefs, and mosaics of this
Art Deco showplace.From the depths of the Great Depression in 1929, John D. Rockefeller Jr. envisioned an unprecedented, modern, and luxurious building project. Given the ...

Irresistible comic masterpiecestwo novels and a story collectionfrom the author Christopher Hitchens calls the gold
standard of English wit.Of course there can never be enough Jeeves for die-hard Wodehouse enthusiasts. But this selection brings old favorites to those fans in ...

Amid all the gloom surrounding the debacle in Iraq, finally here is a highly instructive
four-stage plan that will help us move forward. Now longer than the Civil War, America's conflict in Iraq seems to have no end in sight. ...

“A swift and brilliant synthesis of finance, politics, and history.”Ben Sisario, New York Times Book
ReviewBefore they achieved renown as patrons of the arts and de facto rulers of Florence, the Medici family earned their fortune in banking. But even ...